Run out of medication abroad: what to do
Running out of a regular medicine away from home is common, fixable and much less dramatic than it feels at the time. Inside the European Union there are three routes: a pharmacist may be able to make an emergency supply of something you are established on, a prescription written in one member state can be dispensed in another, and local medical services exist for anything that needs examining. Which route applies depends mostly on one thing: whether the medicine is a controlled drug. This page walks through each in order, with the details worth having ready.
First, work out which of three situations you are in
Situation one: you take a long-term medicine, it is not a controlled drug, you are well, and you have simply run short. This is the ordinary case and it is solvable through a pharmacy or through a cross-border prescription.
Situation two: the medicine is a controlled drug, meaning an opioid painkiller, a benzodiazepine, a Z-drug for sleep, an ADHD stimulant or a cannabis-based product. Cross-border recognition does not cover these, MEDINOW does not issue them, and the route is local medical care.
Situation three: something is wrong rather than just missing. New symptoms, a condition deteriorating, or a medicine you cannot safely miss such as insulin, anticoagulation, epilepsy treatment, transplant immunosuppression or steroid replacement. That is a medical problem rather than a paperwork problem, and it needs local care now. In Ireland the emergency number is 112 or 999; across the EU 112 works everywhere.
Ask a pharmacy first
Pharmacists in Ireland, and in most EU states, have a defined route for supplying a limited quantity of a prescription medicine to a person who is established on it and has run out in urgent circumstances. It is at the pharmacist's professional discretion, it is limited in quantity, and it usually does not extend to controlled drugs. It is also the quickest legitimate answer when the gap is short.
Make it easy for the pharmacist to say yes. Bring the box or the pharmacy label, a repeat slip, a photograph of a previous prescription, or the medicine record on your phone. Bring photo identification. Be able to say the active substance, the strength and how long you have been taking it. A pharmacist who can see what you were prescribed and by whom is in a much better position than one being asked to take your word for a name.
If the first pharmacy cannot help, the second may. Stock and judgement both vary.
How a cross-border prescription works
Directive 2011/24/EU establishes that a prescription issued in one EU member state can be dispensed in another, and Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU sets out the details the prescription must carry for that to work in practice. There is no special form and no stamp. A prescription containing the required elements is recognised.
Those elements are: your family name and first name in full and your date of birth; the date of issue; the prescriber's name in full, professional qualification, direct contact details including e-mail and a phone number with the international dialling prefix, work address and country of registration; a signature; and the medicine identified by its active substance, with the form, strength, quantity and regimen.
The active substance rather than the brand is the key detail for a traveller. Brands differ between countries and the same brand name can cover different strengths in different markets. A prescription naming the substance can be dispensed with whatever equivalent product is marketed locally.
The details to have ready
Have the active substance, not the brand you know it by. If you only know the brand, the box, the pharmacy label or the package leaflet will give you the substance, and a pharmacist can identify it from a photograph of the packaging.
Have the strength and the dose. A prescription for the wrong strength is worse than no prescription, and this is the detail people most often get wrong from memory.
Have the pharmaceutical form: tablets, capsules, modified release, a patch, an inhaler with the device type, an injection with the pen type. Modified release and immediate release versions of the same substance are not interchangeable.
Have photo identification in the name that will appear on the prescription. Have a note of the other medicines you take. And keep a photograph of your repeat slip or a recent prescription on your phone, which is the single most useful thing you can do before travelling.
What is excluded, and why
Narcotic and psychotropic medicines are outside the cross-border recognition arrangement. Directive 2011/24/EU allows member states to exclude products subject to special prescription requirements, and controlled drugs are handled under national rules everywhere.
MEDINOW does not issue any of them. Opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines, Z-drugs for sleep, stimulants used in ADHD, cannabis-based products, and also gabapentinoids such as pregabalin and gabapentin, are outside what we do. If your treatment is in one of those groups and you have run out abroad, the answer is local medical care, and it is worth contacting the prescriber who manages the treatment at home as well, because they may be able to write to a local service.
Unlicensed products and specialist-initiated treatment are the second exclusion. If a medicine is not authorised in the country you are in, no prescription makes it available there.
Travelling with medicines: the paperwork worth carrying
Carry medicines in the original packaging with the pharmacy label showing your name. Keep them in hand luggage, both because checked bags go missing and because temperature in a hold is not controlled for products such as insulin or GLP-1 pens.
Carry a copy of your prescription or a printed list of your medicines with the active substance, strength and dose. That single sheet solves most conversations at a pharmacy counter or a border.
Controlled medicines need more. Many countries require documentation to bring them in, some restrict them outright, and the rules are national rather than European. Check the embassy of the country you are travelling to well before you go, and ask your prescriber about the certification they can provide.
A European Health Insurance Card covers necessary state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU state. It does not pay for private prescriptions or for medicines at a pharmacy.
Where MEDINOW fits
MEDINOW is operated by MEDINOW Sp. z o.o. and assessments are carried out by lek. Damian Wojno, a doctor registered in Poland, PWZ no. 3211301. The model is a written medical questionnaire the doctor reads and answers in his own time. There is no video consultation, no telephone appointment and no live chat, so this route suits a supply problem with stable treatment rather than a medical problem that needs examining.
The repeat prescription assessment costs 19.90 euro. If the doctor is satisfied that continuing the treatment is appropriate, the prescription arrives by e-mail as a PDF built to the annex of Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU. You take it to any pharmacy with photo identification. There is no PIN code and no national patient number attached to it.
The fee covers the medical assessment, not the issuing of a document. If the doctor declines on medical grounds, the fee is refunded. If he asks for documentation and it is not supplied, the assessment counts as carried out and the fee is not refunded.
Planning so it does not happen again
Three habits remove most of this problem. Photograph your repeat slip and your pharmacy labels and keep them in a folder on your phone, so the active substance and strength are always available even if the box is at home.
Count your supply against the trip before you leave, and add a margin for delayed travel. Ask your pharmacy about the timing of your next repeat if the trip crosses it, because arranging a supply at home is always simpler than arranging one abroad.
And know in advance which of your medicines are controlled drugs, because those are the ones with no remote route at all. If you take one, plan the supply and the documentation before you travel rather than assuming a solution will exist at the destination.
Can a pharmacy in another EU country just give me my usual tablets?
Sometimes, under the emergency supply route that most member states have for a patient who is established on a medicine and has run out in urgent circumstances. It is at the pharmacist's discretion, the quantity is limited, and it generally does not cover controlled drugs. Your chances improve enormously if you can show what you were prescribed: the box, the pharmacy label, a repeat slip or a photograph of an earlier prescription, together with photo identification. If one pharmacy declines, another may take a different view.
Will an Irish pharmacy accept a prescription written by a doctor in Poland?
It should, provided the prescription carries the elements required by Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU, the medicine is authorised in Ireland, and it is not a controlled drug. Recognition of prescriptions issued in other member states is established by Directive 2011/24/EU, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland publishes guidance for pharmacists on handling them. Bring photo identification, and expect the pharmacist to read the document properly rather than glance at it. Recognition does not decide who pays; reimbursement runs on national HSE rules.
What about insulin or an anticoagulant, where missing doses is dangerous?
Treat that as urgent medical care rather than a supply query. Go to a pharmacy first and say plainly what you take and that you cannot miss it; pharmacists prioritise exactly this. If you cannot obtain a supply, contact local medical services rather than waiting, and in an emergency call 112 anywhere in the EU, or 112 or 999 in Ireland. A remote written assessment is not the right tool when the consequence of a gap is measured in hours.
I take a sleeping tablet and I have run out. Can you help?
No, and no legitimate cross-border service can. Z-drugs used for sleep, along with benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, ADHD stimulants and cannabis-based products, sit outside the EU recognition arrangement and outside what MEDINOW issues. We also do not issue pregabalin or gabapentin. The route is local medical care, and it is worth telling the local doctor what you take, at what dose and for how long, because abrupt discontinuation of some of these medicines carries its own risks that need managing rather than ignoring.
Does my European Health Insurance Card cover the medicine?
It covers necessary state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU or EEA state, on the same basis as a resident of that country. It is not travel insurance and it is not a payment card for pharmacy purchases, so a private prescription and the medicine that goes with it are generally paid for by you. What it can help with is access to a local doctor. Check the current terms on the HSE website before you rely on it for anything specific.